Phillip Schofield has come out as gay

[catinb0oots]

Blimey. Married for 27 years.

Wonder how soon there will be a documentary telling it in his words? ITV can make more money out of the story. Probably interview with Piers Morgan coming up.

His poor wife. I don't think he's brave at all. Plenty of openly gay people in his generation so no excuse to marry a woman and make her live a lie. And very disrespectful of Holly to ask him so happily of his plans for his future relationships when his poor wife is probably at home watching. She must be devestated and having to listen to everyone praise him.

For someone who is apparently a woman hater he seems to have married someone hugely understanding and supportive, has a best friend that’s a woman and 2 daughters who are also it would seem well adjusted and understanding that’s not the mark of a woman hater surely

That’s the public stance. In private you actually have no idea whether they are supportive and well adjusted. His public stance until today was also that he was a straight man. This man lets the public know what he wants them to know.

katycarr the reactions on this thread go some way to illustrate why you might not want to come out as gay, dont they?

i suspect its not that easy opening yourself up to judgemental morons who think they know the ins and outs of your private life, and what you should have done and when you should have done it and how it would have been so easy to be gay in the 80's

its clearly not easy now - people are deluded if they think its easy at any time.

One of my friend’s father’s came out when he was about 11. It devastated his mother and the family. One of the boys went off the rails etc. It wasn’t the fact that he was gay, it was the fact that he had been living a lie for so long. That was really hard for the family to process. For my friend, it really fucked up his boundaries and understanding of relationships. He questioned if his father actually loved him or had that been a lie given how he was with his mother. 27 years is a very long time to be married. I hope there was always some sort of understanding within their relationship and clearly it’s come out in this way before the papers splashed something. It is just sad all round really. Sad that in the 80’s He didn’t feel able to come out, sad for his wife who is now going to be dragged through the gutter press and see her marriage in tatters and sad for the children.

That Spitting Image clip is funny and telling, it’s obviously been common knowledge for years. Who else is in the background? Prince Edward, Michael Jackson, who are the others?

I think all this fawning and pretending the 1980s were the dark ages, does a real disservice to the LGB community.

This. I had a lot of LGB friends in the 1980s who were openly LGB, we went to pubs which were popular with the LGB community and they were just like any other pub, as you'd expect. The main difference was that I was never sexually harrassed in a pub that was mainly frequented by the LGB population.

Plenty of chances for a gay man to come out decades ago.
Wonder why he hid for so long?
He always seemed gay and I for one never cared either way.
Was surprised he acted married for so long.
It doesn't help the young ones come out when successful men make it harder by hiding it.
Show biz has allowed gay men to be openly gay for a very long time.

I’ve not read the full thread but I have watched Phillips announcement via the TM app.

I have tears streaming down my face and I for one applaud him 👏

What he has done has taken courage and a huge love for those around him. Especially his wife & family.

Live your best life Phillip!

Why is everyone falling over themselves to praise him for being brave and 'his true self'?

What about equal focus being on his wife and children? Seems like their only role is to be 'supportive'. God forbid they have needs of their own, God forbid they get angry and shout...

Why is is all about him? And why make such a palaver about it?

The 1980s and 1990s were extremely homophobic times. I first got called a lesbian by a boy in my class when i was 10. It was 1991 and i had no idea what a lesbian was. He didn't like how close my best friend and i were. I can still feel the physical sense of shame that comment induced and the way it made me push down my attraction to women for decades.

If it was such common knowledge, surely his wife knew already?

I suspect many straight people who aren’t ‘in love’ get married too.

Well maybe they shouldn't! Here's a revolutionary idea. Don't lie. How many of the spouses know that their spouses aren't 'in love' with them. Because straight people deceive their spouses too doesn't make it ok for gay people to.

getyour the reactions on this thread are in sympathy with his wife. No-one cares if he's gay. And if he didn't want this to be a massive topic of discussion, then he wouldn't have released a statement on a Friday and did an interview on TV with Holly. This is all exactly as much of a news story as he wanted it to be. And the questions about his wife, are created by the statement he put out. Don't be naive.

judgemental morons
Not cool to use that word, and rather ironic really.

Sole bizz.. your post 😱

The crying on holly’s shoulder
Wtf was that about
Who were his tears and fears for
If I was his wife watching I’d have been furious

I think there’s more to come

I think all this fawning and pretending the 1980s were the dark ages, does a real disservice to the LGB community.

Oh, well, thank goodness the LGB community has such wonderful champions as you, eh? What with not being part of that community (as you imply in your posts), I'm sure you have the real insider sense of how homophobia worked, right?

Coming out as gay rather than bisexual seems to particularly negate his relationship with his wife.

Who says not being “in love” means deceiving your partner?

What does it mean to be in love anyway? Surely many times that’s mistaken for infatuation andit’s one of the worst and least solid reasons for a marriage.

What an odd attitude you have @kenandbarbie- if you don’t do something for the reasons I do you shouldn’t be doing it.

I was a teen in the 1980s and 1990s. I don't remember them as the enlightened time other posters talk about here. I remember the anguish and heartbreak of my friends who came out at that time, the dread of telling families, the homophobic comments. I don't have any trouble understanding that PS might have wanted to hide is sexuality, especially considering he was working in children's television at that time. In the 1980s and 1990s I remember, I suspect coming out might have killed his career stone dead.

Can't believe my post was deleted because I said he'd gaslit his wife and daughters

You have precisely zero idea whether he has "gaslit" anyone.

Did anyone actually listen to what Philip said this morning, he said he and his wife never had any secrets so I would think she has always known,,,,, and he said that no one was forcing him to come out now, he and his family decided it was the right time,, I can well believe his wife and family are supporting him and good for him for doing this, if it even helps one person it will be worth it!

Watching that interview was uncomfortable and left a bad taste.

It's painting a picture like it's fine to get married and have children whilst you wait 20+ years to be ready to tell them you're gay. Then they should completely support you and hug you and love you because it's so "brave" what you did.